Document 14: 17 August 1862, “All of my friends … have gone to war”

Author: Emilie E. Palmer

Date: 17 August 1862

Location: Emilie E. Palmer 1859 Diary, Record Group 19/2, Oberlin College Archives

Document Type: Autograph Document

Introduction:

Here Palmer laments the tragic departure between soldiers and women who stayed on the homefront. She mentions feeling as though she has aged more quickly, likely due to the sacrifices of war, which forced a generation to mature faster and confront the realities of loss and mortality earlier than normal.

Transcription:

Aug. 17th

I was thinking just now how I’ve grown old. I feel ten years older than I did a year ago. I have no great trouble–no crushing sorrow–but others have around me, and I have had experience, yes, plenty of it. All the boys have gone to war. Dan, Harry Wheaton,¹ and all of my friends. They went last Tuesday morning. It was a sad day. Monday night we had a party for them. What a pleasure that last visit was to us all and how we enjoyed it. I had a talk with Wheaton and am glad of it. Dan and I went out in the graveyard and sat by Marion’s² grave about an hour. We had a sober³ visit. I intended to have written more but don’t feel like it.

Transcribed by Natalia Shevin

¹A friend of Palmer’s who did not attend Oberlin College.

²Marion Rockwell, likely a soldier and friend who died in combat. Palmer writes, “He was not prepared to die. That was a sad time and so it has been ever since. The black cloud which hung over us closes in upon us with increasing darkness. We can see no end to the dreadful conflict.” (1 August 1862, Emilie E. Palmer 1861 Diary).

³Of demeanour, speech, etc.: Grave, serious, solemn; indicating or implying a serious mind or purpose. “sober.” 23 June 2015.

The projects on this site all began as class assignments. Students work together in teams of two or three work together to create a “mini-edition” based on documents in the Oberlin College Archives identified by Professor Lasser and Archivist Ken Grossi for their potential to illuminate aspects of feminisms. Each student individually selects a document from the team’s collection, transcribes and annotates it, and produces a headnote for it. Together, the members of the team cooperate to write an introduction to the project identifying how the contents contribute to understanding the history of American feminisms.

Before posting on this site, all projects received editorial attention from Professor Lasser. Jen Graham OC 2013 assisted with mini-editions completed in Spring 2013. Hanna Van Reed OC 2015 assisted the Spring 2015 class, and Summer 2015 Student Editors, Rebecca Debus, Natalia Shevin and Joanna Wiley-- all OC 2017--edited and extended projects completed in Spring 2015.

See the projects here...

Oberlin College History Professor Carol Lasser teaches “First Wave American Feminisms” and “Second Wave American Feminisms.” Each of these courses investigates the social movements, political thought, and the changing trajectories of power for women, situating female gendered persons in changing intersectional contexts, including race, religion, region, class, sexuality, household status and citizenship. Students in the class work with primary documents in order to better understand how race, class, gender, sexuality, and historical moment shape notions of gender justice, and to experience first-hand how historians make sense of evidence.